For the past few months Emma has been begging to get her hair cut "short up to my neck". Well, today was finally the day. Kim decided at the last minute that she didn't want to be left out of the fun of going to the beauty salon, so she had a cut too.

Here are the before pics-

Here are the "afters"-

This was Emma's first real haircut (besides trimming the bangs). She just turned six so she was a little scared of the new experience and wanted me to be there with her the whole time.

*****

Here is a fantastic picture of Josh. He hasn't had much exposure on this blog yet.

*****

Quote of the Day

How far you go in life depends on your being tender with the young, compassionate with the aged, sympahetic with the striving and tolerant of the weak and strong. Because someday in life you will have been all of these.

-George Washington Carver

Have a fabulous day!

My Wife is incredibly cool

Hey everybody,

This is Mike and I just wanted to type a quick note in this blog to let you know how cool my wife is. She is just technically savvy enough to be dangerous. It has been a lot of fun to come home and see how excited she is when she gets something to work on the computer. It is a little interesting when she calls and wants me to teach her how to run QuarkXpress when I don't have the program in front of me and I don't know what she is trying to accomplish. She has a great creativity streak and it has been fun to see what she comes up with. SHE ROCKS!!!!

Today is just going to be some things to make you laugh

These are some one-liners from one of our favorite comics-

Mr. Steven Wright

• I met this wonderful girl at Macy's. She was buying clothes and I was putting Slinkies on the escalator.
• I play the harmonica. The only way I can play is if I get my car going really fast, and stick it out the window.
• I poured spot remover on my dog. Now he's gone.
• I put instant coffee in a microwave oven and almost went back in time.
• I remember when the candle shop burned down. Everyone stood around singing 'Happy Birthday.'
• I replaced the headlights in my car with strobe lights, so it looks like I'm the only one moving.
• I saw a bank that said "24 Hour Banking," but I don't have that much time.
• I saw a subliminal advertising executive, but only for a second.
• I stayed in a really old hotel last night. They sent me a wake-up letter.
• I went to the museum where they had all the heads and arms from the statues that are in all the other museums.
• I'm writing a book. I've got the page numbers done.
• Sponges grow in the ocean. That just kills me. I wonder how much deeper the ocean would be if that didn't happen.
• The Bermuda Triangle got tired of warm weather. It moved to Alaska. Now Santa Claus is missing.
• There's a fine line between fishing and just standing on the shore like an idiot.
• What a nice night for an evening.
• What's another word for Thesaurus?
• Whenever I think of the past, it brings back so many memories.
• My neighbor has a circular driveway... he can't get out.
• My school colors were clear. We used to say, "I'm not naked, I'm in the band."
• My theory of evolution is that Darwin was adopted.
• On the other hand, you have different fingers.
• Right now I'm having amnesia and deja vu at the same time.
• Some people are afraid of heights. Not me, I'm afraid of widths.
• If a word in the dictionary were misspelled, how would we know?
• It doesn't make a difference what temperature a room is, it's always room temperature.
• If it's a penny for your thoughts and you put in your two cents worth, then someone, somewhere is making a penny.
• If one synchronised swimmer drowns, do all the rest have to drown too?
• If you are in a spaceship that is traveling at the speed of light, and you turn on the headlights, does anything happen?
• If you can't hear me, it's because I'm in parentheses.
• If you tell a joke in the forest, but nobody laughs, was it a joke?
• If you were going to shoot a mime, would you use a silencer?

Have a Fantastic Day!

IT'S THE FIRST DAY
OF SCHOOL!

HURRAY!

Here are our cute kids on their first day-

• Josh is in the 5th grade this year
• Kim is in the 3rd grade this year
• Emma is in the 1st grade this year
  

They were all so excited that they had trouble getting to sleep last night and they were all up and dressed by 6:30 this morning. Josh and Emma waited on the front porch for almost a half an hour waiting for it to be time to go. It would be nice if this excitement level lasted past the first week of school.

*****

Ben turned 13 this past saturday!

(teenager-eek!)

He had a great day. He received a spy kit, a tie with frogs on it,

a couple of toys and a million dollar bill. He chose to go to Burger King

for lunch and for dinner we had triple chocolate cake with chocolate

frosting and Brownies on the Moon flavored ice cream. Yum!

He will start junior high on August 29 so there will be his "first day

of school" pictures then.

*****

In honor of Ben's transition into adulthood, the quote of the day is-

The secret of staying young is to live honestly, eat slowly,

and lie about your age.

-Lucille Ball

Have a great day!

Here's an update on "the Jungle". I spent about 2 hours and 45 minutes out there yesterday pulling weeds. I found one row of corn, two rows of cucumbers, the pumpkin patch, the watermelons, and a tomato plant. I decided that if I pulled an average of ten weeds per handful I probably pulled at least 1,200 to 1,500 weeds yesterday. Here are some pictures-

The pumpkins and cucumbers went from looking like this-

(this is the zucchini and squash, it's next on my list)

to looking like this-

Here are our cute watermelons-

(they are only about as big as a golf ball)

Aaron also got a super-fantastic haircut yesterday-

Have a Great Day!!

In the last post I refered to how much we have going on this week. Ben has been at scout camp since monday and was supposed to come back this afternoon (saturday). We got a phone call last night at about 7:00 from the leader from our ward that went up with the boys. As soon as I saw our caller id that said "wireless caller" I just knew it was about Ben. They had been playing a game called "violent chair". It's a game where two people are racing around a circle of people sitting in chairs and they are both trying to get into the one empty chair. Brother Maxfield (the leader mentioned above) and Ben were the two contestants. Somehow in the melee Ben injured his wrist and they thought it was broken. They crammed most of his things into his backpack and headed for the hospital. He got an x-ray and they determined that it is just a really bad sprain. He has a splint kind of thing on his wrist and his arm in a sling. He isn't supposed to lift anything or use his wrist too much. It was a long wait for us to find out what was going on. They called us at about seven then we didn't hear from them again until about nine or so. Then they told us what the outcome was and said they were coming home. They hadn't had any dinner yet so they were going to stop for a burger or something then they would be on their way. Ben called just after eleven and said they were at a Wendy's somewhere and they would be home soon. They pulled in just after midnight. Ben was tired and VERY dirty. He had a quick shower and still had dirt packed in his ears and under his nails. We finally all got to sleep about 12:45am. This morning Ben soaked in the tub and had a haircut so he looks good and shiny again. He was a little sad about coming home early, but the only thing he missed was the final campfire last night. This morning was just packing up and coming home. We have already had visits this morning from scouts wondering how Ben is doing. He is great, and says it hardly hurts at all anymore.

I took some pictures of our backyard and our garden (the place my husband calls "the jungle"). Here they are-

I feel like I just took a HUGE step in my life. As many of you know, I am totally technologically illiterate. I don't have a cell phone, or an ipod, or anything like that and I have to keep asking what MB means. I have no clue how to get to a chat room and I need my kids to help me figure out how to do things on the computer because they know much more than I do. I figured out by myself how to set this blog up. Well, that is not quite true. Sara and Isaac (Mike's sister and her husband) let us know about this site and how easy it is. But, I did push the next button and enter our password and everything by myself. One small insignificant thing to most people, but one HUGE accomplishment to me.
I started this website because I have lots of people (even my own brothers and sisters) ask me if we have a family website so they can see pictures of our kids and know what's going on with us. I also LOVE looking on Isaac and Sara's page. I look it up everyday, sometimes twice, to see if there is a new post. I am hoping that I can keep in touch with you more, even if it is one sided and for everyone instead of one on one.
So, here is our first post.
We have a lot going on this week. Yesterday (Monday, July 9) Ben had to be at his leaders house at 5:30 am to go to Scout Camp. He will get back on Saturday afternoon sometime. They went to a camp that's by Preston, Idaho. I was teasing his leaders about transporting minors across state lines, but I guess it's okay if they have a signed permission slip from the parents. Mike was teasing me because my baby is growing up and leaving me for a whole week. ( I am getting teary-eyed now just thinking about him being gone.) Mike thinks the umbilical cord is still a little too thick and I should cut it already. Ben will be turning thirteen (yikes! a teenager) in a few weeks.
Also yesterday was Emma's birthday. She turned six years old. I took a picture of her wearing the dress I was baptized in. I have a picture of me wearing it on my eighth birthday (the day I got baptized). It fits Emma, but it is just a little bit short. I must have been a tiny thing back then. Both Emma and Kim like to tease me about how small I must have been. I will post those pictures when I take the next technological step and figure out how to do that.
Also yesterday Mike had to fly to Boise for a meeting. They had some "management realignment" happen and this meeting is where they find out just exactly what happened. Mike said something like 15 managers were "let go". I guess we'll let you know if Mike still has a job or not in the next couple of days.
Many of you know that we just moved. Well, I guess it's not just anymore. We moved the last few days of February. That makes it just over four months ago. So far we have pulled all the dead sod out of the front yard, tilled the whole yard (1/3 acre), sprayed the weeds multiple times, planted a garden (we call it the jungle-I'll post pictures and you'll see why), and bought some trees to plant. We will be digging trenches for a sprinkler system soon, and we are trying to finish the basement when we can. As you can tell, we are very busy. I will put up a picture of our new house soon.
Kimi just got baptized on June 30. She had eagerly awaited the day for more than a year. I made her dress out of the same material that I made my wedding dress and both her and Emma's blessing dresses out of. It turned out really beautiful, and Kimi looked fantastic. Kati (Mike's sister-in-law) made her a beautiful headband out of beads that made her look like a princess wearing a tiara. What a beautiful way to become a member of the Church.
I will post more (including pictures) another time.
Have a great day!